Update from the
Heartland
No.610
19.8.13 – 25.8.13
Blog version: http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/
To all,
The follow-up news items:
-- Private First Class Bradley Edward Manning, USA, was
convicted and sentenced to 35 years in Fort Leavenworth Prison for disclosing
thousands of classified documents [450]. WikiLeaks made the documents public in
February 2010. Manning was
arrested in Iraq in May 2010. He
will apparently be eligible for parole as early as seven years hence, which I
am not particularly impressed by that prospect. He will spend quite a few years
in Fort Leavenworth military prison, and most likely they will not be pleasant
years. Now, Manning is claiming he
is a transsexual woman named Chelsea.
“I am female,” he declared.
The whole transgender thing may be a ploy to gain transfer from the
military prison to a federal prison, which is apparently more amenable to such
gender identity issues and has less harsh living conditions.
P.S. – If anyone happens to know the exact date of Manning’s
arrest, please let me know. I have
been unsuccessful in pinning down the day, and I would like to have it in my
chronology file. I try to be
precise. Thank you kindly.
-- Major Nidal Malik Hasan, USA, was convicted of 13 counts
of capital murder and 30 counts of attempted murder as the lone shooter in the
attack at Fort Hood, Texas, on 5.November.2009 [412]. While I still
contend he was an Islamo-fascist agent and should have been tried as such, his
conviction as a common criminal should produce the same outcome, which is fine
by me.
Glenn Greenwald is the journalist for The Guardian [of London] newspaper, who
collaborated with Edward Snowden [599
& sub] to disclose highly classified National Security Agency (NSA)
documents. This week, he became
the news. David Michael Miranda,
Greenwald’s roommate, partner, companion, or whatever, was detained at London’s
Heathrow Airport for nine hours, and had his laptop computer and several flash-drives
confiscated. Once Miranda was
released and arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Greenwald made a public statement that
explained a lot and made him the news.
“I will be far more aggressive in
my reporting from now. I am going to publish many more documents. I am going to
publish things on England too. I have many documents on England’s spy system. I think they will be sorry for what they
did. [...] They wanted to intimidate our journalism, to show that they have
power and will not remain passive but will attack us more intensely if we
continue publishing their secrets.” [emphasis
added]
So, this has become personal and a matter of revenge, rather
than some idealistic act of journalistic purity. At least we know what Greenwald is now, a terrorist with a
journalist’s credential. I think
and believe GCHQ (Government Communications HeadQuarters, the British
equivalent of NSA) and MI5 had probable cause to detain him and confiscate his
stuff. As noted below, The Guardian has also garnered the
attention of Her Majesty’s Government (HMG).
We
must also add the name of documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras to the growing
list of collaborators.
A
friend, colleague, and brother-in-arms sent this article and comment:
“Former foreign
secretary Malcolm Rifkind says there is NO DOUBT reports using Snowden
information played into terrorists' hands”
by Jack Doyle
The Daily Mail [of
London]
Published: 17:18 EST, 20 August 2013; Updated: 15:56 EST, 21
August 2013
Comment:
“Miranda investigation. People like us who have served the
state are well aware of the terrorist and fundamentalist threat and will
support any move by the police to defend our country and our people against
these vile people. Your Snowden has classed himself as any enemy of the state
and of our people(s). The Russians have made a mistake by giving him ‘bed and
breakfasts’ for how long, I suspect they will cast him off eventually and then
he should face the anger of your judiciary.
“However Cap, such people are not without their so called
supporters and here in the U/K we have The
Guardian newspaper whose circulation I might add is not on the increase.
You will be aware of the left wing outcry over the detention at Heathrow of
Your Snowden’s man friend, who I might add looks a mess on the news items. He
wouldn’t get through my recruiting door.
“My view and I might assume yours is if the Police believe
in detaining any one then they have my support. And long may they remain
diligent and alert.”
. . . to which I replied:
I’m
still working on this story for this week’s Update, so my opinion may evolve as
I learn more.
I
am convinced MI5 had ample evidence to detain David Miranda. I would not be surprised if Miranda was
a witless dupe, like an oblivious drug mule, for Greenwald, which is why they
eventually let him go. Now that we
know what Greenwald really is, I suspect the clock is ticking for him as
well. Further, I suspect there is
a reason he is in Brazil, other than his boyfriend Miranda.
The
left wing can cry all they want.
Most folks do not take kindly to traitors of any political persuasion.
“That’s
just my opinion, but I could be wrong.”
As
Greenwald and Miranda learned the hard way, the British have tools to protect
State security that are not common to the United States, namely the Official Secrets Act 1939 [2 & 3 Geo. 6 c.
121; 23.November.1939]. As noted
in the Doyle article, The Guardian is
not immune to the Official Secrets Act either. This whole Snowden affair is a long way from being
over. A mere few decades ago, the
traitor and his collaborators would have found themselves guests of HMG in the
Tower of London, and their stay would probably have been quite short.
[FYI: Sir
Malcolm Leslie Rifkind, KCMG (1.8.1997), QC, MP (for Kensington) is the
Chairman of the House of Commons Intelligence and Security Committee, as well
as the former Defence Minister and Foreign Minister.]
There
were many other pronouncements from the Press, other media, and the perpetual
talking heads. I have selected two
articles for purposes of a vigorous debate.
“Black
Helicopters: Britain's Blind Faith in Intelligence Agencies”
A Commentary by Christoph Scheuermann
Der Spiegel
Published: August 21, 2013; 10:44 AM
and
“The Real, Terrifying Reason Why British Authorities
Detained David Miranda – The scariest explanation of all? That the NSA and GCHQ
are just showing they don't want to be messed with.”
by Bruce Schneier
The Atlantic
Published: August 22, 2013; 1:01 PM ET
Manning, Snowden, Greenwald, Miranda, Poitras, et al, may
have accomplished their stated public objective, namely a vigorous public
debate regarding communications surveillance during the War on Islamic
Fascism. They are headed to the
altar of martyrs. Perhaps their
self-sacrifice will be worth it in the retrospective examination of future
historians; however, in the light of challenges faced by western democracies in
waging war successfully in the age of electronic media, I do not see them in a
favorable light. It is easy to
take an idealistic, purified political stance of total government
transparency. It is not so easy to
execute that policy in the real world of bad men intent upon harm. In a narrow intellectual perspective,
we ought to know or have access to everything the government does, after all
the government works for us. The
problem with such reasoning, if we know everything, so do our enemies.
I
can argue both sides of this issue.
We have seen hints that the NSA, or rather others agencies with access
to the NSA data, has used the collected information for purposes other than
national security. I will attempt
to argue that the reading of my eMail is not the real problem; it is when the
government uses that information for enforcement of a political agenda, i.e.,
selective enforcement of whatever the contemporary point of interest like tax
collection, drug enforcement, morality laws, whatever some agent or bureaucrat
deems his particular cause célèbre of
the moment, as if those wielding power are judge, jury and executioner. Case in point, the public condemnation
of former Governor Eliot Laurence Spitzer of New York, who injured no one, who
damaged no property, simply because of our moral disapproval of his PRIVATE
conduct. His only offense, implied
to the jury of public opinion, was a violation of our societal sense of
propriety. While I believe the NSA
needs the full power of modern technology to find and localize the bad guys for
appropriate interdiction, we cannot tolerate the abuse of that power. If we are to continue allowing the use
of this extraordinary power, we must have firewalls, filters and appropriate
independent enforcement of violations put in place to eliminate or minimize the
abuses. If we cannot do so, then I
will argue to close down that power and accept the consequences of more
successful attacks on this Grand Republic, our precious citizens and our allies
world-wide.
As if accentuating the criticality of
limiting the NSA surveillance power to appropriate national security
applications, we have this news item:
“Supreme Court asked to revive Virginia’s anti-sodomy law”
by Robert Barnes
Washington Post
Published: August 18
Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Thomas “Ken” Cuccinelli II
will appeal the decision of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to the
U.S. Supreme Court in the case of MacDonald v. Moose [710 F.3d 154
(4th Cir. 2012)]. He is seeking
reinstatement of the state’s anti-sodomy laws despite the Supreme Court’s
ruling in Lawrence v. Texas [539 U.S. 558 (2003); 26.June.2003]. I have not yet reviewed the Appeals
Court ruling. The Barnes article
certainly gives me a chill, as it should all freedom-loving citizens. The Cuccinelli appeal clearly states he
believes the State should decide what is proper sexual conduct. The thought of a state AG like
Cuccinelli being successful returning to everyone’s bedroom becomes
astronomically more sinister when coupled with the warrantless surveillance
data collected by the NSA. I need
to read the 4th Circuit’s ruling before the Supremes decide 10 years
is sufficient to invoke stare decisis. The State has no proper interest in the
private sexual practices, preferences and proclivities of citizens. I am surprised the Court agreed to hear
the appeal. I expect they will reject
Cuccinelli and affirm Lawrence. The State has no interest in private sexual conduct, sodomy
or otherwise.
From previous,
recent discussion topics, the following StratFor article is germane.
“European Jihadists: The Continuation of a Historical Trend”
StratFor
Published: August 19, 2013; 0531 [S] CDT
We have many important lessons to learn from our European
cousins.
I would like to
add my praise and congratulations to those conveyed by the Press and media to Bookkeeper
Antoinette Tuff née Hill at Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in Decatur,
Georgia, for her extraordinary composure, faith and instinctive skill in
talking down convicted felon Michael Brandon Hill – so close to being another
mass killer of school children and teachers. God bless you, Antoinette.
News from the economic front:
-- In the category of better late than never, Attorney
General Eric Holder said the Justice Department is nearing decisions on a
number of probes involving large financial firms and that he plans to announce
new cases stemming from the economic meltdown in the coming months. In a Wall Street Journal interview, Holder
said, “My message is, anybody who’s inflicted damage on our financial markets
should not be of the belief that they are out of the woods because of the
passage of time.”
-- The preliminary PRC PMI reading determined by HSBC
climbed to 50.1 from 47.7 in July, when it was at an 11-month low, as China’s
manufacturing sector showed signs of stabilizing in August.
-- The Financial Times
[of London] reported that central banks in the developing world have lost
US$81B of emergency reserves through capital outflows and currency market
interventions since early May. The
newspaper also reported that IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde declared the
world needs to build “further lines of defence” against possible financial
crises in emerging markets and the IMF remains ready to provide financial assistance
if needed.
Comments
and contributions from Update no.609:
“Thanks cap. Goodness me strong words indeed. I must have
missed something earlier.
“As for Gibraltar and the same goes for The Falklands, I had
4 months there, I can categorically assure you that the inhabitants want
nothing whatsoever to do with the Argentineans or in Gibraltar The Spanish. And
after all Cap whatever the treaties it's the people who decide or should
decide. Of course in the Falkland Islands it’s the oil that speaks...bucket
loads of it. And everybody wants oil.
“Yes you're probably right, these are as ever, distraction
tactics by these governments especially so the Spanish.”
My response:
Yes,
the early part of the conversation was diffuse and not really transportable,
which is why I picked it up on the meaty bits.
I’m
sure the inhabitants are aligned.
I have no idea where this is going with Gibraltar & Falklands, but I
do know Spain is barking at the wrong tree. I didn’t know the Falklands had oil. Surprise, surprise! That explains a lot.
Another contribution:
“Congratulations on your 7th grandchild and sorry about your
PSA readings. Update No. 609 was
quite interesting enjoyed the healthy debate. I am interested in your writings
about the British Royal Air Force, keep us informed as to when it will be
finished and published.”
My reply:
Thank
you for your kind words. Always
appreciated.
I
will make a broad public announcement once the first two books are
available. The series tells the
tales of fictional (and historic) characters among historic events. I hope the series is an engaging and
entertaining story that brings history alive. Thank you for your interest.
Comment to the Blog:
“Congratulations on another grandchild! They are the best
part of parenting.
“I hope your medical news improves. I admit to not knowing
the details of your condition, but I wish you whatever’s the best outcome.
“Cap, that Gibraltar treaty is 300 years old. Very few
treaties hold up that long. I’m not sure why Spain would join in the Falkland
Islands dispute. Maybe they’re trying to slide something past the world while
most attention is elsewhere. You know, the same thing Congress does to
Americans.
“Nixon vetoed the War Powers Act? He looks better and better
as time goes on.
“I frankly did not read the entire exchange of views that
you quoted. My personal opinion is that Washington, particularly the Executive
Branch, learned the power of a common enemy to unite/control people during
World War II and has been abusing it ever since. From the War Powers Act to the
NSA revelations runs an unbroken line of claiming more and more power to
directly control the lives of everyday Americans and foreigners. Given the
secrecy surrounding all this, I find it amazing that anyone in this day and age
can see any of that as benign.”
My response to the
Blog:
Re:
grandchild. Indeed. Thank you. They are all treasures.
Re:
medical news. You are welcome to
ask anything you wish to know; I’ll gladly give you as much detail as I
have. The Update is an open forum
and I try to find some balance between informative and offensive. Anyway, I’m open . . . seek and ye
shall find.
Re:
Spain. LOL . . . sliding something past. Good one. Not sure what is motivating Spain, but it will not end well
for them if they persist.
Re:
War Powers Act. I was not a fan of
WPA when it was passed, and I am still not. Some presidents have made some effort to comply, but
ultimately most presidents have considered WPA unconstitutional, yet the
Judiciary remains consistent – it is a political issue that must be resolved by
the Executive and Legislative branches.
The Court continues to implicitly support the enormous power to act held
by the President.
Re:
Nixon. He did good things, but the
balance is heavily weighted on the negative side of things. I voted for the man back in the day,
but today, I am not a fan. He
singlehandedly did more than any president to foster distrust of the federal
government and stimulated some of the most intrusive, freedom-robbing laws in
our history and those laws remain in force to this very day. No, I am not a fan. In that sense, he is quite like Hitler
– he did a few good things, but did a whole bunch of really bad things – on
balance, quite negative.
While
I am critical and skeptical of federal conduct from time to time, I am not
quite so cynical. Certainly the
flawed human beings elected, appointed or hired to perform the tasks of
powerful positions make mistakes.
As an example, Robert McNamara was an intelligent, capable and
successful businessman who truly believed he could bring production line,
efficiency, business practices to the task of national security, and at the
more base level, the business of killing.
I hold President Johnson and SecDef McNamara personally responsible and
accountable for a goodly portion of the 58,000+ American and Allied lives lost
in Vietnam. The list is endless
across every administration; yet, I am convinced they were inherently good
people, trying to do the best they could under the circumstances. I even allow Nixon into that
category. Yes, I will agree, there
is often far too much secrecy that is not warranted, e.g., TWA 800
investigation. Nonetheless, I have
faith that eventually we do find balance.
. . . a follow-up comment:
“I will respond briefly to your comment that Nixon,
McNamara, et al. were ‘inherently’ good people. I do not believe in ‘inherent’
goodness or badness in that sense. I believe that some people are drawn to
specific lines of work with or without full awareness of the effects of power
on human beings. I think George W Bush and Barack Obama have shown that. Their
backgrounds and stated beliefs differ greatly, but their actual "on the
ground" results resemble one another enough to make many of us nervous.
. . . and my follow-up response:
The
realities and responsibilities of the presidency make demands that exceed
ideology. I think human beings are
born as an empty book predominately, upon which are written the characteristics
we learn or are taught to us during childhood. There are some genetically instinctive traits that drive us to
seek the amplification of others, let’s call it the tribal instinct. There may well be some propensity to
work in certain lines of work.
However, for jobs like the presidency, there is an enormous amount of
luck and fate involved . . . and of course money. I do not think guys like Nixon and McNamara were taught to
be bad men like Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, or John Gacy. Circumstances and a narrow ideological
perceptiveness led them to make the decisions they did.
My very best wishes to all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Cheers,
Cap :-)
2 comments:
I am beginning to believe you can no longer see the forest of revelations for the trees of your attitudes about those who revealed these facts. We experience surveillance of millions of people, secret agencies violating their own secret rules thousands of times annually, and the US spying on our allies in depth. All some folks can do is hold onto their resentment about the way we learned all of this. It’s time to face the important facts. The “War on Terrorism” (or Islamo-Facist fundamentalism) only adds to the fact that we have not won a war since World War II, and has become a smokescreen for people who would remove all liberty from the US. Historically, corrupt people in power always have a bogeyman to blame for their actions. Those people can then abuse whomever they choose, whether or not those people have anything to do with the ostensible enemy. Nothing has changed. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Attorney General Holder has announced a laudable plan to prosecute those criminally involved in the economic crash. He had best not take too long. I wonder whether statutes of limitations might let the criminals escape.
Calvin,
Re: forest of revelations. Wow, that was quite an opinion. We always have a choice to view the glass as half full. I fundamentally disagree with the perception that the United States has not won a war since World War II. Likewise, I do not agree that any American citizen is intent upon removing all our liberties, to do so would be to take their own liberties. The issue beyond the forest of revelations remains the balance between freedom and security. The key feature to our constitutional democracy has always been checks & balances, as the Founders & Framers recognized. In this current situation, we have not found balance, as yet.
Re: prosecution. Yes, the statute of limitations would allow the criminals to escape. I trust he is mindful of the law. We shall see.
Cheers,
Cap
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