Deborah Dupre
Media in the U.S. has censored a recent globally hailed interview with former NSA contractor whistleblower Edward Snowden, provided in the YouTube video below.
Last Sunday evening, Snowden was interviewed by a German television network ARD. (Watch the YouTube video of the censored interview below this article.)
“The interview has been intentionally blocked from the US public, with virtually no major broadcast news outlets covering this story,” says Jay Syrmopoulos for Truth In Media. “In addition, the video has been taken down almost immediately every time it’s posted on YouTube.”
According to Truth In Media, the interview was treated as a major political event in print and broadcast media, in Germany and the rest of the world.
In the interview, Mr. Snowden lays out a succinct case as to how these domestic surveillance programs undermines and erodes human rights and democratic freedom.
Clapper lies to the world, threatens reporters
He stated his tipping point was when “seeing Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, directly lie under oath to Congress” denying the existence of a domestic spying programs while under questioning in March of last year.
Under oath, Clapper said the government did “not wittingly” collect data on millions of Americans, a blatant lie for which he later apologized to the panel, changed his story and tried to justify his lie.
Last week, Clapper called for “Snowden and his accomplices” to return documents Snowden took from a contractor for NSA, Booze Allen, to minimize what Clapper called the “profound damage that his disclosures have caused and continued to cause.”
Snowden has repeatedly said he acted alone in assembling and leaking a vast trove of information on the scope of US surveillance efforts and even NSA’s official investigators agree with this.
Last week, Clapper also called for retaliation against reporters who have published Snowden’s leaks.
Are citizen reporters and mainstream journalists really terrorst “accomplices” for reporting Snowden’s leaks? Are they ”terrorists” also deserving assassination, as Clapper and others believe Snowden is?
When asked if journalists who possess leaked surveillance information counted in Clapper’s definition of an “accomplice”, Clapper spokesman Shawn Turner stated:
“Director Clapper was referring to anyone who is assisting Edward Snowden to further threaten our national security through the unauthorized disclosure of stolen documents related to lawful foreign intelligence collection programs.”
Turner declined to be more specific.
“The public had a right to know about these programs,” Snowden said. “The public had a right to know that which the government is doing in its name, and that which the government is doing against the public.”
Sources: The Guardian, Ben Swann, Youtube
To steal what THEY HAVE STOLEN is treason according to them, but illegally obtaining the information in the first place, in violation to the 4th Amendment, is not.
Neither the NSA nor the President has authority to nullify the Constitution. In doing so, they become a domestic enemy that the military has sworn an oath to defend against.
I believe Snowden to be a man of principal & a man of truth. In my opinion, he qualifies as a hero.
The United States is the most over-legislated and over-regulated country on earth. Almost everything Americans eat, wear, do or say violates some law or regulation. If nthat were not bad enough, Americans can now be fined or inprisoned for not participating in Obamacare which was deliberately designed and destined to fail; but not before Americans are forced to volunteer information and grant access to financial assets that the government would otherwise have no way to obtain. And although the government does not have the ability to listen to every phone call or voicemail message, and every text message and E-Mail; the government computers can store the collected data indefinitely, sort it and recall it at any time for future use against any target. So what is the long term strategy? The government is deliberately and as quickly as possible expanding the number of people dependent on the government. This process is being financed by increasing revenues from existing sources, finding new sources of revenues and the government divesting itself of commitments and obligations it legislated. For example: according to the government, Social Security and Medicare are entitlement programs in dire need of reform. Meanwhile, Medicaid, welfare and the food stamp program are not entitlement programs. These programs are equally as unsustainable as Social Security and Medicare but the government is actively promoting these programs and recruiting as many new participants as possible. Also, there are between 20 and 30 million aliens hiding in plain sight in America. The people were never mentioned in the same breath as ” free riders ” to the American health care system during the Obamacare sales job. Unlike Americans, illegal aliens are not mandated to have or purchase health insurance. The ” Communist Manifesto ” demanded ” from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” The redistribution of wealth was accomplished by force as and when necessary. The dreaded Communist society eventuall failed because the government did not have the depth and breadth of data that the American government has.