The End of Independent Journalism

We took another big step towards the loss of  independent journalism with the story of the government seizing the phone records of the Associated Press.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/govt-obtains-wide-ap-phone-records-probe

This breaks  new ground in  so many ways:

1.  I don’t recall the government being so blatant about seizing phone records of any organization, let alone the mainstream press.  The government didn’t even pretend to have a good reason to do this – “In the letter notifying the AP, which was received Friday, the Justice Department offered no explanation for the seizure, according to Pruitt’s letter and attorneys for the AP.”

2..  No wonder there is no investigative journalism. Once a story is published that is critical of the government, the government can go through your phone records and find out who your sources are.  As the ACLU stated: “..the use of subpoenas for a broad swath of records has a chilling effect both on journalists and whistleblowers who want to reveal government wrongdoing.”

3.  This is essentially domestic spying by the CIA.  The government’s concern was about sources the AP had regarding foreign terrorism.  The justice department was just acting under the instructions of the CIA to collect this information domestically.

The huge terror plot that caused the government to infringe on freedom of the press?  Another purported airline bomber.   However, the letter sent to AP notifying them of the records seizure was sent after the government had thwarted the plot, and had the bomb in custody.   There was no threat outstanding at the time of the records seizure.

Its clear the current administration is no different than the Bush administration when it comes to abolishing freedom under the guise of preventing  terror.   At least now we know that there is one news organization that is not yet in bed with the government – though it may not matter since no news organization will be able to investigate government wrongdoing in the future.

The legal and media spectacle that followed the senseless terrorist bombing at the Boston marathon has me worried for the future.  Not because of the the terrorists themselves, but because of the reaction of the American media and the American leadership to the terrorist acts against our society.  A great article worth a quick read:

http://www.jpost.com/Features/Front-Lines/What-message-is-US-sending-with-a-Boston-lockdown-310424

Now that a suspect has been caught, the mob mentality is taking over our justice system.  First off, the suspect is denied his Miranda rights.  A great point made by this author as to why we should care about this.  

The next thing to watch will be to see if the suspect is denied habeas corpus  and detained indefinitely.  Apparently, according to this article,  the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013, there is a provision that claims to ensure that “any person inside the United States” is allowed their constitutional rights, including habeas corpus. Thus it seems if they continue to treat this suspect outside of the normal rule of law, they would need to send him offshore to Guantanamo Bay.   Senator Lindsey Graham has already stated a desire to treat the suspect as an enemy combatant for intelligence gathering purposes, though the Obama administration has said that is unlikely.   Should this suspect be sent to Guantanamo Bay to be questioned, that would set a strong and disturbing precedent for the treatment of  any american citizen accused of a crime.

I don’t want the lingering result of this terrorist act to be  the canonization of  lynch law.  If we don’t provide the suspect his civil rights, the terrorists will have won the battle.

It struck me as kind of odd when I read the article about the National Coalition president Mouaz al-Khatib quitting due to frustration.   I pulled these quotes from a great summary of the event:

He said his resignation means he can now “work with freedom that is not available inside the official institutions.”

Really?  Sounds like this Syrian Rebel group must be a bureaucratic mess from the sounds of it.  Too many special interests perhaps?  And he is complaining about pressure for diplomacy with the Assad regime?  Please tell us more – all we hear is saber rattling from all the third parties.

After looking this further –  I think Mr al-Khatib ‘is pursuing other opportunities’ – he got fired.  Sounds like he wasn’t following the rules put down by all the foreign countries behind this revolution.   And who was waiting in the wings to take the reins?   Would you believe a US educated Texas businessman born in Syria but has lived in the US since 1980?  Ghassan Hitto has replaced al-Khatib. He was elected Prime Minister on March 18th, and on the 23rd Mouaz al-Khatib ‘quit’.  Hitto’s primary qualifications?

Hitto’s profile has recently risen to prominence via a series of public service and fundraising initiatives, such as the Walk for Children of Syria Day.

This article gives a great summary of  Mr Hitto’s backgrount - http://rt.com/news/syrian-opposition-prime-minister-458/.  This was the most qualified candidate?  Sounds like its not what you know, but who you know.  Interestingly, the rebels are rejecting the appointment of Hitto, further highlighting the oddity of this situation.   Hopefully the rebels will provide us some information on who was behind Hitto’s miraculous rise to power.

It will be interesting to find out who is pulling the strings behind all this – I long for the day where we will get some investigative journalism into this worldwide political involvement with what in theory is a civil war.