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The Morning News

The Obama Appeal

Kenneth Roth (head of Human Rights Watch) and Salil Shetty (head of Amnesty International) make an appeal to President Obama in the New York Times to pardon Snowden on merit, and for the public good. It's all part of a much larger campaign.

In his biography on Twitter, Mr. Snowden says: “I used to work for the government. Now I work for the public.” That should not be something that gets you locked up for a lifetime or compels you to live in exile. The president has an opportunity to correct that injustice. It’s time to pardon Mr. Snowden and bring him home, not to face the music but to work for the security and privacy of us all.

Sep 15, 2016
Edward Snowden speaking at the 2015 International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington, D.C. Credit: Gage Skidmore.

The two candidates have not talked about surveillance state or Mr. Snowden. Or, for that matter, about the wars America’s involved in. Or, for that matter, about environmental change. This is a strange, superficial election.

Oliver Stone does publicity for his Snowden film.
↩︎ Rockcellar
Sep 15, 2016

In more Snowden news, Peter Gabriel's new song pays tribute, using "footage from military training exercises, real-life combat images and surveillance tapes" (NPR).

Sep 15, 2016

The First Time the Government Disclosed a FISA Court Opinion in Response to a Freedom of Information Act Lawsuit

When assessing Snowden's impact, it's fun to dig back into old newspapers (old = 2013) and refresh our freak-out about the scale of surveillance that Snowden helped uncover. From the Washington Post: "The redacted 85-page opinion, which was declassified by U.S. intelligence officials on Wednesday, states that, based on NSA estimates, the spy agency may have been collecting as many as 56,000 “wholly domestic” communications each year."

Sep 15, 2016

Unfortunately, many candidates in the political mainstream today, even pundits and commentators who aren’t running for office, believe we have to be able to do anything, no matter what, as long as there is some benefit to be had in doing so. But that is the logic of a police state.

Snowden makes his own moral case for his presidential pardon.
↩︎ The Guardian
Sep 15, 2016
More Headlines
A room wallpapered in (presumably unread) New Yorkers. Credit: lars_o_matic.
A very stupid thing begins again. Credit: TMN.
The other White House, Moscow's Kremlin. Credit: Andrey Korzun.
Al Wadj Bank, Saudi Arabia. Credit: NASA.