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The Sad Fate Of America's Whistleblowers

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Paul Craig Roberts believes Washington persecutes America's greatest patriots...

John Kiriakou is an American patriot who informed us of the criminal behavior of illegal and immoral US “cloak and dagger” operations that were bringing dishonor to our country. His reward was to be called a “traitor” by the idiot conservative Republicans and sentenced to prison by the corrupt US government.

 

Manning revealed US war crimes and after years of illegal pre-trial prison abuse was sentenced to 35 years in prison for keeping the vow to the US Constitution. Some of the idiot conservative Republicans thought the sentence was too light.

 

Tom Drake was ruined, and he kept his complaints about NSA illegality within the chain of command.

 

Julian Assange is confined by the US and UK governments in violation of international law to the Ecuadoran Embassy in London for doing his job and publishing leaked documents revealing the mendacity, immorality, and illegality of Washingtonn’s policies.

 

Edward Snowden is protected by Russia against Washington’s retribution for revealing that Washington’s illegal and unconstitutional spying is universal and includes the personal communications of all of the leaders of Washington’s own vassal states.

The American people accept the persecution of truth-tellers, because they have been brainwashed into believing that patriotism means defense of the government no matter what. As truth is so unfavorable to Washington, Americans believe that it must not be revealed, and if revealed, covered up, and those who reveal truth must be punished.

A country with such a population as this is a police state, not a free country.

It is an irony of history that a government and a population that believes truth must be covered up at all cost parades around the world acting as if Washington is the history’s agent for ?“bringing freedom and democracy to the world.”

As John Kiriakou most recently noted at OtherWords.org, history may smile on these guardians of the public trust, but during their lifetimes they remain outcasts...

 What is it about whistleblowers that the powers that be can’t stand?

 

When I blew the whistle on the CIA’s illegal torture program, I was derided in many quarters as a traitor. My detractors in the government attacked me for violating my secrecy agreement, even as they ignored the oath we’d all taken to protect and defend the Constitution.

 

All of this happened despite the fact that the torture I helped expose is illegal in the United States. Torture also violates a number of international laws and treaties to which our country is signatory — some of which the United States itself was the driving force in drafting.

 

I was charged with three counts of espionage, all of which were eventually dropped when I took a plea to a lesser count. I had to choose between spending up to 30 months in prison and rolling the dice to risk a 45-year sentence. With five kids, and three of them under the age of 10, I took the plea.

 

Tom Drake — the NSA whistleblower who went through the agency’s chain of command to report its illegal program to spy on American citizens — was thanked for his honesty and hard work by being charged with 10 felonies, including five counts of espionage. The government eventually dropped the charges, but not before Drake had suffered terrible financial, professional, and personal distress.

 

This is an ongoing theme, especially in government.

 

Chelsea Manning is serving 35 years in prison for her disclosure of State Department and military cable traffic showing American military crimes in Iraq and beyond. And Edward Snowden, who told Americans about the extent to which our government is spying on us, faces life in prison if he ever returns to the country.

 

The list goes on and on.

 

Baltimore Police Department whistleblower Joe Crystal knew what he was getting into when he reported an incident of police brutality to his superiors after witnessing two colleagues brutally beat a suspect. Crystal immediately became known as a “rat cop” and a “snitch.”

 

He finally resigned from the department after receiving credible death threats.

 

It’s not just government employees either. Whistleblowers first brought attention to wrongdoing at Enron, Lehman Brothers, Stanford International Bank, and elsewhere.

 

And what’s their reward? Across the board, whistleblowers are investigated, harassed, fired, and in some cases prosecuted.

 

That’s the conclusion of author Eyal Press, whose book Beautiful Souls: The Courage and Conscience of Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times documents the struggles of whistleblowers throughout history. Press’s whistleblowers never recover financially or professionally from their actions. History seems to smile on them, but during their lifetimes they remain outcasts.

This is a tragedy. Blowing the whistle on wrongdoing should be the norm, not the exception.

I recently visited Greece to help the government there draft a whistleblower protection law. The Greek word for “whistleblower” translates as “guardian of the public trust.” I wish our own government’s treatment of whistleblowers could reflect that understanding.

Yet even legal guarantees of protection from prosecution and persecution aren’t enough — especially if, as in the case of existing law, national security employees are exempt from these safeguards.

Instead, society must start seeing things differently. Like the Greeks, all of us need to start treating whistleblowers as guardians, not traitors. And if we value what freedoms we have left, we should demand that our government do the same.

 

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Sun, 10/18/2015 - 21:52 | 6683753 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

"all of us need to start treating whistleblowers as guardians, not traitors. And if we value what freedoms we have left, we should demand that our government do the same."

Yes, let's petition the government to protect us from the government.  Seems perfectly reasonable.

In particular, when you start talking about "what freedons we have left" you've completely missed the boat.  It's like admitting that you already know all your freedoms will be taken away, but maybe we could protect one or two of them for a few years more.... if we're lucky.

Why not demand ALL your liberties?  There's a document that describes them.  I forget what it's called, but I'm fairly sure we don't use it much any more.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 21:56 | 6683757 Demdere
Demdere's picture

Yes, one of many things and all begin with turning off the TV and learning to think, to reject the propaganda.

Reducing the targeting of their propaganda, their understanding of you will help, also.

https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/10/16/information-resistance/

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 21:59 | 6683770 Stainless Steel Rat
Stainless Steel Rat's picture

Clinton on Snowden: "He broke the laws of the United States. He could have been a whistleblower. He could have gotten all of the protections of being a whistleblower. He could have raised all the issues that he has raised. And I think there would have been a positive response to that."

Norman Solomon on Clinton: "Hillary Clinton gave hypocrisy a bad name. What she had to say had no intersection with reality. We have talked about how in the case of Jeffrey Sterling, but in many other instances such as the NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake, another brave whistleblower, going through channels actually marked them for persecution and prosecution. And the idea that Hillary Clinton was floating, that somehow there are channels for whistleblowers to go through in the so-called national security arena as whistleblowers, that is ridiculous. And either she was being mendacious or ignorant, or some combination."

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:22 | 6683841 uhland62
uhland62's picture

I saw a docu where Drake was interviewed. It is worth noting  how his charges were dropped. He said that ALL of the information he had revealed were in the public domain, so he did NOT reveal  state secrets. He sold his house to be able to pay researchers/private detectives and proved that each an every bit of information was indeed publicly known. Only THEN were the charges dropped. 

What is described in the article as absolute loyalty to the government and system sounded like the aboslute loyalty that people expressed for Hitler. 

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:24 | 6683845 Fahque Imuhnutjahb
Fahque Imuhnutjahb's picture

 

 

Ther fifth quote is the most apropos.  It's slipping away in a hurry.

 

https://texaslynn.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/people-orwell-george-quote...

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 00:32 | 6684092 Cornfedbloodstool
Cornfedbloodstool's picture

Who would down vote that.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 02:25 | 6684180 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

No doubt it was a typical Statist. To support any State activity (Military, Corporations, Food Stamps, Currency, Water, etc.) is support of all state activities. All endeavors undertaken by The State being with theft, at gunpoint. To support The State, is to support theft (of all propery).

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 02:45 | 6684190 Booked
Booked's picture

 

 

In France we leave unmolested those who set fire to the house and persecute those who sound the alarm bell.  -- Nicolas Chamfort--d.1794

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 04:06 | 6684240 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

oh, such BULLSHIT!

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 08:18 | 6684456 mvsjcl
mvsjcl's picture

Care to explain?

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 21:59 | 6683767 Stainless Steel Rat
Stainless Steel Rat's picture

Crooks!!!

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:07 | 6683787 junction
junction's picture

Reporter Michael Hastings was a whistleblower of sorts and he ended up being murdered and, based on the fast cremation of his body, tortured.  There is a trail of dead bodies that show what happened to people who knew too much about the Saudi/Mossad/Bush 9/11 plot.  One guy who worked at the World Trade Center and mentioned something about pre-planted explosives in the building wound up dead a few days later.  America is just like Nazi Germany today with death squads available to carry out Obama's kill list orders here, not abroad.

Sun, 10/25/2015 - 00:19 | 6708144 uhland62
uhland62's picture

When it happened, Spiegel had a list of tenents of the buildings. When I looked again two days later that had vanished.

There were some Australians who died there, and some relatives wanted to liaise with the the other relatives of the deceased. Department of Foreign Affairs refused to release any names so they could not get together. Obviously they would have had to ask every relative 'do you want relatives of other deceased to know your name and phone number'. They actively prevented group formation. One Australian was working on telecommunication, no further detail.

By contrast, the victims of the Bali bombings shortly after were all identified with picture, name, etc in the press. Not the 9/11 victims. I once read something about a connection with Yamashita gold, but can't remember the rather confusing details.

They can dismiss all of us as neurotic and paranoid conspiracy theorists. But when there are too many oddities and secrets we speculate, having every right to it.

They can give us the truth, we can take it. But they don't because they have something that has to be hidden. We haven't seen interviews with the parents of the deceased pilots either. Well coordinated, but the truth will come out one day.   

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:14 | 6683811 Kreditanstalt
Kreditanstalt's picture

The "Constitution" is just another government LAW.  Your rights predate that.  All sovereign individuals predate government. 

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 21:58 | 6683769 cynicalskeptic
cynicalskeptic's picture

You forgot Sibel Edmonds...  a federal gag order keeps her silent  

http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/about-us/about-sibel-edmonds/

http://www.justacitizen.com/

An FBI translator, she stumbled across intercepts involving US politicians, Turkish generals, arms dealers, drug dealers and 'terrorists'.   The few Senators she talked to were 'alarmed' - but the response was to silence her.  

You think things might have changed after Hastert (supposedly a key figure in all this as Speaker of the House) got nabbed paying hush money to cover up his sexual 'indiscretions' but DC protects its own

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 09:40 | 6684652 BarkingCat
BarkingCat's picture

from the boiling frog link : " ....and the Congress of the United States has been gagged and prevented from any discussion of her case through retroactive re-classification issued by the Department of Justice."

I call bullshit on that statement. The Justice Department nor any other part of the Executive Branch has any authority over the Legislative Branch.

When these purveyors of conspiracy theory write a story it would behove them to get some very basic facts right. When they write something like the above which contradict basic knowledge of the constitution,. their entire story is suspect and so it is impossible to tell what is true and what else is bullshit.

I could easily rewrite this story to something lot more logical and believable. She did indeed find problems and reported them. The management buried it because it showed that they or their friends were incompetent.  She like a good person pushed it but management being political hacks wanted it to go away so not to imped they career and they looked for any reason or pretence to fire her.

She did talk to some congressmen or senators but these are egotistical blowhards and they might have pretended to care all the while thinking about how to screw Joe public and she was just a bother to them. There was no upside for them in her story so they quickly forgotten it.... or better yet. What she discovered involved some private company that they were actually getting kickback ... ahh contributions from...

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 13:29 | 6685667 Overfed
Overfed's picture

Considering the dereliction of duty that congress seems to be guilty of, I'm not that surprised that they are letting DO (anything but) J lord over therm.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:03 | 6683777 HenryHall
HenryHall's picture

Nothing new there.

The criminal and evil judges, legislators and government executives will go to any lengths to cover up each others crimes. Nothing new in that.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 08:18 | 6684457 illyia
illyia's picture

And, Gawd forbid it not be new. Why new is all there is! Doncha know that's why they call it news?

If it aint news dont fix it.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:03 | 6683778 22winmag
22winmag's picture

[Snowden is a traitor]

 

-Tea Party Rock Star Marco Rubio

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 04:04 | 6684238 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

-Tea Party Pedophile Marco Rubio

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 07:22 | 6684375 Freddie
Freddie's picture

The TEa Party was conned by that creep Rubio.  Most TP people hate him now. 

Foolishly, many have fallen for TPP and Goldman Sachs boy Ted Cruz.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 09:23 | 6684609 venturen
venturen's picture

+100....Rubio and Cruz are the opposite of Tea Party

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:04 | 6683782 GRDguy
GRDguy's picture

NOW do you understand why I say vote for the least-financed candidate to any elected government office and allow them only one term?  It's about the only thing we can do without violence.  And as ZHer's know, the government has much more ammo than we do.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:27 | 6683851 rejected
rejected's picture

Most know it's not the voters that elect,,, it's the vote counters. In this case the vote counters are computers with so many doors that if it were a structure it would collapse.

 

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:11 | 6683798 Kreditanstalt
Kreditanstalt's picture

Whistleblowers tell the truth.

 

There's no place for truth in an extend-and-pretend economy.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 02:28 | 6684182 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

Truth is treason in the empire of lies.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:12 | 6683803 ajkreider
ajkreider's picture

You'd have a point, if Snowden, et al, had only revealed illegal or immoral activity.  But they didn't.  They revealed a whole lot that they hadn't even looked at.  

So, if they're heroes, they are careless and irresponsible heroes.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:38 | 6683883 Demdere
Demdere's picture

Bullshit.  Snowden should have dumped everything on wikileaks rather than the very cautious approach he used.

Nobody has been targeted as a result of any of the, although the gov says that every time, they can never back it up.  We left translators, etc. in Iraq when we left, army officers tried very hard to get the OK to bring them here, could never make it happen.  That had nothing to do with any leaks, that was our State Department.

You can't back that up.  You know you can't back that up.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 07:35 | 6684384 SoilMyselfRotten
SoilMyselfRotten's picture

Boy, that's a toughie. Careless and irresposible heroes or careful, resposible traitors, hmmm, toughie indeed.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:51 | 6683899 Gaius Frakkin' ...
Gaius Frakkin' Baltar's picture

He did reveal illegal and immoral activity and it doesn't matter how many times you and filth like you say otherwise. The NSA scandal isn't over. It's a rotting festering sore that won't go away, much like all the other scandals over the past few decades. IT IS WHY uncle satan has no credibility and no moral high ground.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 00:05 | 6684055 Killdo
Killdo's picture

Uncle Satan - always makes me laugh

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 09:50 | 6684671 BarkingCat
BarkingCat's picture

Please do not slander Satan

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 04:03 | 6684236 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

your point, Miss?

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 10:01 | 6684708 Farqued Up
Farqued Up's picture

In other words, fuck all sunshine laws, too. After all, they are LEGAL, usually.

Please rethink what you posted.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:13 | 6683806 Hulk
Hulk's picture

As a serial Federal Whistleblower, I assure ya'll that all of the above is correct...

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:14 | 6683810 Not if_ But When
Not if_ But When's picture

The only even remotely thoughtful comment on Snowden during the Dem debate was made by Bernie Sanders who acknowledged that Snowden provided very valuable knowledge to the American citizen.  The rest of his answer wasn't perfect - but was head and shoulders above the other scum (like Hillary).

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:14 | 6683813 Jack Burton
Jack Burton's picture

Obama is much worse than any president ever when it comes to attacking freedom of information. Obama is a Neocon, Zionist. He wants zionsim to work in secret, he wants to keep the people ignorant of his sell out to total zionist control. That's why he seeks to put whistle blower sin jail for ever, Obama is no liberal, he is an evil fucking zio fascist.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:18 | 6683827 Intelligence_In...
Intelligence_Insulter's picture

As Bill kristol put it, a born again neo con. I don't think the Osama slayer has much choice in the matter, but you are right the man is a total POS.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:20 | 6683831 rejected
rejected's picture

Chelsea Manning is a he,,, not a her.

I personally will not partake of this sick and demented gender bender horse hockey.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:44 | 6683896 Demdere
Demdere's picture

Who are you to tell someone anything about themselves?  It isn't your business, you don't define their reality.  It is freedom, you know?

And why does it offend you?  What skin is lost off your nose?

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:50 | 6683913 Teh Finn
Teh Finn's picture

XY is male.  It has testes.  If he came out and demanded to be called and treated as Napoleon, he would be thrown in an institution, but for no good reason we are expected to allow and abide a man to be called a woman?

Sheer lunacy.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 23:42 | 6683958 Demdere
Demdere's picture

I own my body.  I can do any gd thing I want with my body and it is none of your gd business.,

Chelsea Manning is an entity with full human rights, which includes wearing any body she wishes in whatever version she can attain. Your wants and wishes and offended mind are of no weight in her decisions and none in mine.

Think as you wish, speak as you wish, and we will laugh at your simple thinking, but very much condemn your attempts to force that simple one-size fits all culture on the rest of us.

This is a Freedom issue, of the same level as any human right, the 1st and 2nd Amendment.  Living life to suit ourselves so long as we do not intrude on the lives of others is the issue, and I defend Chelsea Manning for the same reason I defend those issues.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 23:47 | 6684025 Teh Finn
Teh Finn's picture

Lunacy it is.  You want to believe lies and in mutilation, well then I guess that is on you.  Just don't ask me to pay for, subsidize, or accept your insanity.  That is my freedom.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 00:25 | 6684076 Demdere
Demdere's picture

Just to record the event, I voted you up.

Also, note that those kind of opinions are exactly what the anti-gun people lay on us : no rational reason for anything, just unreasoning dislike for our  understanding of how thngs must be, should be, and attempts to restrict our freedom based on nada.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 00:27 | 6684083 Teh Finn
Teh Finn's picture

ah, ya wound me up.  The LGBQWTFBBQSAUCE  things gets me wound up because of the insane ground they have taken in recent history.  From Chic-Fil-A to Brendon Eich, and Hobby Lobby, and the bathroom and lockerroom crap.  Chelsea Manning...rofl.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 07:07 | 6684361 N2OJoe
N2OJoe's picture

Unfortunately now that Obozo care has been rolled out, the government owns your body, my body, and everyone elses bodies. Soon we will be instructed at gunpoint(does the government give instruction in any other way?) to call each othe Ze, Zha, etc.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/08/28/call-me-ze-not-university-want...

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 23:51 | 6684032 Ignatius
Ignatius's picture

Have you noticed that the only group making progress in civil liberties as of late are those in the LGBT community?  Weird, no?  Otherwise, we're all going backwards.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 00:22 | 6684079 Demdere
Demdere's picture

One of my two long-time friends is gay.  He is a gun-owner, shooter, ...  Fully as pro-Constitution, pro-Freedom as anyone here.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 09:57 | 6684695 BarkingCat
BarkingCat's picture

You do own your own body and can do with it as you please.

I also own my body which includes the brain and mouth and fingers.

The brain tells me that Manning is freak and is everybody else who does what it did.

My mouth allows me to say these things and my fingers allow me to type it.

 

You, stating that it is normal, also show yourself to be fucked in the head and frankly I do not care.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 06:21 | 6684326 HenryHall
HenryHall's picture

>> XY is male.  It has testes.

There is no evidence that Chelsea Manning is XY.

People who are not XX and not XY are more common than is generally thought. 1 in 1000 or thereabouts.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 09:24 | 6684614 venturen
venturen's picture

sorry but if you are tall, blonde and male...saying you are short, red head and female...doesn't make it so

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 10:12 | 6684735 FrankDrakman
FrankDrakman's picture

"And why does it offend you?  What skin is lost off your nose?"

 

Dave Chappelle said it best (about Bruce Jenner): ‘I support anyone’s right to be who they want to be. My question is: to what extent do I have to participate in your self-image?’

Because you believe that red is green, that doesn't give you the right to ignore a traffic light. These cross-gender people are crazy - whether it's internal or externally caused, I can't say, but they are crazy. We've moved beyond putting them in straightjackets, and confining them to rubber rooms, but do we, as Chappelle notes, have to ACCEPT their delusions as reality? Not me. 

 

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 13:33 | 6685690 Demdere
Demdere's picture

You are not required to accept anything about reality.  Labeling people as crazy labels the labeler as indeliably  as the labeled.

Labeling is not the same as comprehension.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:23 | 6683842 VW Nerd
VW Nerd's picture

The state takes care of the good Nazis...

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 23:19 | 6683856 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture

 

Sibel Edmonds

Colleen Rowley

Scott DeCarlo

PFC Manning

Russell Tice

Bill Binney

Tom Drake

Edward Snowden

John Kirakou

Susan Lindauer

Jeffrey Sterling

Ones that tried but were silenced for attempting to do so

Pat Tillman

Colonel Gene Shue

Barry Jennings Maintenance Engineer WTC 7

U.S. Air Force airman who mysteriously "died" in the Minot to Barksdale coverup

I'm not trying to be facetious or caustic but I think the rest of the "whistleblowers" that tried to move it through the bureacracy either were bribed to shut up with money or death threats or are probably dead. 

Case in point.  If nobody has heard of Colonel Gene Shue this is an example of the ones who "got fragged" for attempting to report what they had heard from those in uniform that knew about 9/11 and it's coverup!

Any others?... Even if this list was "20x" the number of individuals listed above how fucking more pathetic and scary could it possibly be that after the "false flag" of all "false flag" events 14 years ago in Manhattan and Washington D.C. that this is all we have to show as a Nation for the honor, courage and patriotism that comes with telling the truth in the face of the evilest of lies?...

 

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 04:03 | 6684235 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

Seal Team 6 all died by friendly fire-they were the witnesses (uneeded) at Bin Ladens "Traditional Muslim Burial at sea" lol

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 08:23 | 6684443 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture

Seal Team 6 all died by friendly fire-they were the witnesses (uneeded) at Bin Ladens "Traditional Muslim Burial at sea"

Or so we've heard...

Maybe "Seal Team 6" is on some beach sipping margaritas with the passengers from flight 93 in some exotic resort?

Always wondered why the story of a "flight 93" was never reported spotted by a number of ground crew at Hopkins International in Cleveland the day of 9/11?!!  Wonder how many UA workers at Hopkins might have been sacrificed for what they mistakenly saw?...

At the end of my comment I mentioned how "scary" and "pathetic" it is when I provided that list... Did I forget to use the word "sick" when I left out the "for $" words?!!!

 


Mon, 10/19/2015 - 14:39 | 6685997 Griffin
Griffin's picture

You can add Aaron Swartz to the list.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz

 

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 19:11 | 6687233 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture

Amen to that brother. My apologies for leaving his name out of that list.

He was the next genius to Gutenburg's "printing press" and the internet that should be...

A brilliant light snufffed out by the Zionist's far too early!

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:33 | 6683871 rejected
rejected's picture

It's amazing how so many mistake State Security for National Security.

State Security hides unlawful government actions by posing as National Security.

National Security will affect the security of the nation.

What these whistle blowers revealed never put the nation at peril,,, only the government.

 

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 00:04 | 6683915 Dre4dwolf
Dre4dwolf's picture

If you blow a whistle in the USA you get put on a terrorist watch list lol.

Cant be blowing whistles in the USA without an updated passport and a plane ticket to a country that wont deport your ass.

 

Land of the Free.

As in

You are Free to leave if you dont like the way our dear leader runs things, but you better watch your back because our dear leader may send his goons to black bag you one day while you are buying groceries.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:53 | 6683922 JR
JR's picture

Irwin Schiff Dies A Political Prisoner | BLACKLISTED NEWS

Published: October 18, 2015

Peter Schiff reported last night his father Irwin passed away, the US government failed to grant his cancer stricken father clemency despite his sickly state (which they caused by misdiagnosing him) and insisted he die shackled to a hospital bed with armed guards outside his door.

Peter Schiff writes:

My father, Irwin A. Schiff was born Feb. 23rd 1928, the 8th child and only of son of Jewish immigrants, who had crossed the Atlantic twenty years earlier in search of freedom. As a result of their hope and courage my father was fortunate to have been born into the freest nation in the history of the world. But when he passed away on Oct. 16th, 2105 at the age of 87, a political prisoner of that same nation, legally blind and shackled to a hospital bed in a guarded room in intensive care, the free nation he was born into had itself died years earlier.

As a tribute, Peter shared the above video (see link) of his father speaking at the Libertarian Convention 1996.

Irwin was an inspiration to millions of us, myself included, his brilliant comic-style book "How an Economy Grows & Why it Doesn't" explained economics to me in a way I never understood and changed my life forever as a result, hundreds or thousands of contradictions in my mind were wiped out in a few hours, no doubt it helped millions of people wake up to the simple beauty of real economics as opposed to the pseudoscience fraud of Keynesianism which is taught in schools.

Please celebrate this amazing man's life by spreading his works far and wide as a big F-you to the evil government which imprisoned him for standing up to their thuggery.

Irwin Allan Schiff (February 24, 1928 – October 16, 2015)

http://www.blacklistednews.com/Irwin_Schiff_Dies_A_Political_Prisoner/46731/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 23:53 | 6684035 Ignatius
Ignatius's picture

RIP

God speed, Peter

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 22:57 | 6683932 GooseShtepping Moron
GooseShtepping Moron's picture

I'm not a big fan of Edward Snowden and I don't understand what his "revelations" have added to the public's understanding of the NSA's domestic surveillance apparatus. I find his behavior odd, his personality unstable, and his mood swings inexplicable. Ditto for "Chelsea" Manning. Anybody who pretends to be the opposite sex is certainly no hero of truth and transparency.

There's something weird going on with these folks. I would guess that their whistleblowing is rooted in their exaggerated sense of self and a desire to magnify their importance by sticking it to the government. And yes, it is treasonous. I wouldn't call what they did real whistleblowing. They put ordinary people at risk and damaged their country's institutions by doing things the way they did them. They used their supposed devotion to a higher law as a means of self-exaltation. This is the kind of sanctimonious grandstanding that detracts from legitimate attempts to expose breaches of the public trust.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 23:13 | 6683964 Demdere
Demdere's picture

If you are not just here to annoy, distract, your thinking is wierd indeed.

Edward Snowden speaks in complete paragraphs of very clear and connected thinking about the essence of problems he deals with.  You don't come close to that level.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 23:21 | 6683977 JR
JR's picture

“Always look for the truth from the ground up, rarely from the top down. Journalists are never real journalists if they are the agents of power, no matter how they disguise that role. Real journalists are agents of the people." – John Pilger

“If you’re not careful, the newspaper will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” –MALCOLM X 

“Why do we have wars? Because we are ruled by an elite group of psychopaths who own the banks that control the governments and media. They fund both sides of war for profit and they manufacture the consent of the public through the propaganda of the media.” –Libertarian Nation

“You must understand. The leading Bolsheviks who took over Russia were not Russians. They hated Russians. They hated Christians. Driven by ethnic hatred they tortured and slaughtered millions of Russians without a shred of human remorse. The October Revolution was not what you call in America the ‘Russian Revolution.’ It was an invasion and conquest over the Russian people. More of my countrymen suffered horrific crimes at their bloodstained hands than any people or nation ever suffered in the entirety of human history. It cannot be understated. Bolshevism was the greatest human slaughter of all time. The fact that most of the world is ignorant of this reality is proof that the global media itself is in the hands of the perpetrators.” --Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 23:27 | 6683991 Alvin Fernald
Alvin Fernald's picture

Please tell us who Manning put at risk.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 03:16 | 6684206 GoldenDonuts
GoldenDonuts's picture

You have named yourself very well.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 03:58 | 6684231 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

well, lookee here, we have another dimwit liberal PhD Psycholgist!

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 23:04 | 6683946 NoWayJose
NoWayJose's picture

The whole structure of whistleblowing, EEOC complaints, discrimination complaints, etc are stacked to protect the government (or employer). The person trying to make the complaint is never told everything - so many cases are tossed out on technicalities. The government or employer gets 'control' of co-workers so the person making complaints never gets to talk with them to flesh out a comlaint. The only real hope a complainer has is to get a good lawyer before they file anything (keeping that very quiet) - and build the whole case before they file.

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 23:33 | 6683993 Joe A
Joe A's picture

Most people drink the cool aid because they are inmature and want some "Mutti" to look after them whether that Mutti is the State, the church or television. Perhaps they want freedom (or so they claim) but they don't want the responsibility that comes with it. In the end they just want to be part of 'something'. Cause it gives a nice warm feeling.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 00:16 | 6684071 Killdo
Killdo's picture

Most Americans I have met over about a decade have no clue about what the concept of freedom even means. I realized this about 3 years ago. They think it's somethig abstract that does not even exist anywhere

Sun, 10/18/2015 - 23:56 | 6684040 Insurrexion
Insurrexion's picture

Paul,

You might have forgotten Harry Markopolus, the whistle blower to the SEC on Bernard Maddoff's pyramid scheme.

But, then again, where do we stop listing the real American patriots (whistle blowers)?

These people put their lives on the line for a purpose and an idea and future generations.

Let's not kid ourselves.

Let's stop wanting to believe in the lies.

America is not the dream of wholesome righteousness the propaganda would have you believe.

Once we get over it, then we can begin see the truth and correct it.

People will die. It will get ugly before the powerful die and the American people see what they have become.

My question to ZH readers is:

 

What the fuck have you done?

 

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 04:10 | 6684243 Tall Tom
Tall Tom's picture

My answer to you is that I have WITHDRAWN FINANCIAL SUPPORT whereever and whenever it is possible as Financial Support is SUPPORT.

 

Own a business? Fire your employees and close your doors. Why pay them unnecessary taxes and why produce?

 

Live off of SAVINGS.

 

Elevate the unemployment rate and make it worse.

 

Drain the Beast of resources and STARVE IT.

 

What have you done?

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 09:35 | 6684644 DontGive
DontGive's picture

Yes.

Go broke for freedumb!

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 00:14 | 6684067 gadzooks
gadzooks's picture

its how religious people can be such suckers, they treat the goverment like their immediat family or some mafia ring the`ve sworn into, what needs to be defined here is what is true courage for its fellow man vs cowards of silence for fear of reprisal,, its not loyalty if its working against us...and it almost always is these days. Americans of all people fought and won the right to stand against their goverment , its what makes America great, and too few dont seem to get this.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 00:21 | 6684077 onmail1
onmail1's picture

If 

TRUTH == GOD

America trusts in G.O.D. == god of death

 

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 00:35 | 6684097 message
Mon, 10/19/2015 - 01:41 | 6684152 forputin
forputin's picture

So what! Mr Putin is our God in mother Russia. So God can kill anyone God wants.

Long live Putin! 

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 01:50 | 6684159 Max Steel
Max Steel's picture

Two useful retards rolling together.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 02:10 | 6684174 forputin
forputin's picture

Mr Putin would fuck you in ass for that!

 

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 03:55 | 6684229 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

only after you finish him off.....clean him up etc slurp!

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 04:47 | 6684278 Baby Bladeface
Baby Bladeface's picture

Pray your ukro God in another place daughters.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 03:54 | 6684228 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

well, whauddya know! They kill whistleblowers here too! Dont cast any stones at Russia...ya dimwit

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 01:01 | 6684119 nah
nah's picture

telling the truth is a science

.

your wrong until your right and everyone agrees

.

then its just a theory of everything, which is why people are ostracized, misunderstood, ridiculed, and played off

.

thinking is hard work

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 01:18 | 6684132 HippieHaulers
HippieHaulers's picture

It's fun to look at a genuine whistleblower like Drake compared to a limited hangout op like Snowden and compare the MSM coverage.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 01:37 | 6684151 trader1
trader1's picture

Peyton Manning?

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 01:57 | 6684161 Sam.Spade
Sam.Spade's picture

Whistleblowing is a felony.  Felons go to jail. The average American commits three felonies a day.  Can you connect the dots? 

This isn't about protecting government secrets, it's about silencing all anti-government speech.  By anybody.  Including you.

From Thieves Emporium:

      ******

"With enough data, my lawyers can always find a crime. They'll prosecute. Bury anyone under legal motions, make his life miserable. Maybe even send him up for some felony."

"Even if he didn't do anything?"

"Of course he did something. There are 100,000 laws on the books, twice that in regs. Somewhere, sometime, by accident or intentionally, he broke one. We get a moving x-ray of his life, all we have to do is find it."

      *****

That's what the surveillance state is really about.

Thieves Emporium is a very prescient book.  For both the problem and the solution.

http://www.amazon.com/Thieves-Emporium-Max-Hernandez-ebook/dp/B00CWWWRK0

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 04:55 | 6684283 InnVestuhrr
InnVestuhrr's picture

Whistleblower = regime opposer/deposer

What reaction would you expect from the regime to an opposer/deposer ?

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 06:31 | 6684329 Monetas
Monetas's picture

All the commotion about the "Glamour Whistleblowers" .... I want to see an army of low level whistle blowers .... then work up the chain of corruption .... focusing only on the high flyers diverts attention .... from the pervasive corruption and cronyism at all levels .... ordinary workers and the middle class are the new "niggers" .... and it must be exposed and stopped .... another year with no COLA .... for people who paid into the system !

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 07:02 | 6684358 Monetas
Monetas's picture

The whistle was blown on Hillary and Lois Lerner .... why aren't they in jail .... in Lesbo Lockdown ?

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 08:21 | 6684471 22winmag
22winmag's picture

Several of the TEA PARTY actors have called Snowden a traitor.

 

Meanwhile, the TEA PARTY hasn't really done shit to reign in spending.

Mon, 10/19/2015 - 20:30 | 6687602 IronForge
IronForge's picture

It certainly is. 

As a Federal Whistleblower myself - reporting to the Inspectors General of DoD Agencies.

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