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Showing posts with the label Snowden

Bill Maher Interview

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Bill Maher on Masturbation and National Security The comedian has just launched the twelfth season of  Real Time  and is about to hit the road for a tour of stand-up dates in red states. Scott Stossel Jan 24 2014, 7:00 AM ET 1 in Share Phil McCarten/Reuters As his HBO show Real Time begins its twelfth season with higher ratings than ever—4.1 million viewers, high for a premium-cable talk show—the iconoclastic comedian and political commentator Bill Maher spoke to The Atlantic about why he likes doing comedy shows in red states, how his show is different from Jon Stewart's, why the God of the Old Testament is "the most psychopathic character in fiction," and why he believes most opposition to President Obama is racist. Let me start by asking the question you're probably most sick of answering, so we can get it out of the way. The infamous episode of your ABC show Politically Incorrect , on September

Sending a Message

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Published on Wednesday, August 21, 2013 by The Guardian/UK 'Sending a Message': What the US and UK Are Attempting To Do State-loyal journalists seem to believe in a duty to politely submit to bullying tactics from political officials by Glenn Greenwald The remains of the hard disc and Macbook that held information leaked by Edward Snowden to the Guardian and was destroyed at the behest of the UK government. (Photograph: Roger Tooth) Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger on Monday night disclosed the remarkable news that UK authorities, several weeks ago, threatened the Guardian UK with prior restraint if they did not destroy all of their materials provided by Edward Snowden, and then sent agents to the basement of the paper's offices to oversee the physical destruction of hard drives. The Guardian has more details on that episode today, and MSNBC's Chris Hayes interviewed the Guardi

Colonial Mention of the Day

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Colonialism isn't supposed to exist anymore, which is why it is intriguing every time I hear someone use it and its imagery in order to make their point today. People who are trapped in relationships call them colonial. People who feel exploited name it colonial. People who feel oppressed refer to it as colonial. I have even heard it used in positive senses, as in moving into a place and changing the way it operates, for the better, as being colonial.  The colonial mention of the day comes from a group of Latin American leaders from countries who have long resisted United States hegemony in the region. The United States is trying to play is very su'anu with regards to the Edward Snowden scandal. They want to pretend like its nothing, like he's lint you just brush off your shoulder. It is no big deal. But at the same time they are applying very real pressure throughout the world in order to punish him and take away his options. The issue is not Snowden himself of cour

Whistleblower, Not Spy

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Published on Wednesday, July 3, 2013 by The Guardian Edward Snowden: A Whistleblower, Not a Spy by Guardian Editorial It is now 10 days since the former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden , source of the Guardian's NSA bugging revelations, flew out of Hong Kong, apparently en route to Ecuador. For 10 days he has been stalled at Moscow airport, while his passport has been annulled and repeated attempts to continue his journey to sympathetic jurisdictions have failed or been foiled. Over the weekend, Ecuador aborted the idea that he might find sanctuary in Quito. Mr Snowden submitted a request for political asylum in Russia, later withdrawn. Several other asylum bids also faltered at the start of this week. On Tuesday, Mr Snowden remained in Moscow, still dependent on the Russians while waiting on the apparently diminishing chance of being welcomed elsewhere around the wo

Snowden

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A student asked me today about Edward Snowden. I found that I had only general information about his case and wanted to know more. If my student had asked me about ? I would have proudly shown off my ignorance. But not being able to talk for more than a few minutes about Snowden made me feel embarassed and so I just spent the last hour reading up on his case. I signed a petition on the White House website to pardon him for his role in revealing US surveillance programs.  Today he is on his way to Ecuador, where I just was last month, to request asylum. Below are some articles to check out. ********************** Wikileaks Defies US to help Edward Snowden By Peter Griffiths LONDON, June 23 (Reuters) - WikiLeaks' decision to help U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden escape Washington's extradition attempts in Hong Kong has cemented the anti-secrecy group's reputation as a thorn in the side of the American and British governments.