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Whistleblowers

Barrett Brown Describes Life In Jail

Like a lot of pompous, insufferable people, I didn’t watch television when I was previously “out in the world,” as my fellow inmates say. And if I were being held in a regular federal facility like a normal detainee, I wouldn't be exposed to it while incarcerated if I preferred to avoid it. This is because federal prisons (along with holding facilities where inmates await trial) are relatively humane affairs equipped with separate areas for various activities—for instance, sleeping and watching television are done in distinctly different rooms. The problem is that all the federal facilities here in the Northern District of Texas were filled up with inmates awaiting trial or sentencing when I became incarcerated. This isn’t simply because Texans are an inherently criminal bunch—although of course they are—but rather because, in addition to prosecuting actual crimes against property and persons, the federal government is also in a great big contest with the Chinese to see who can imprison the most people for bullshit non-crimes like selling drugs.

Eric Holder Says He Wouldn’t Prosecute Glenn Greenwald … Sort of

In an interview with The Washington Post, Attorney General Eric Holder implied that even though he doesn’t agree with reporter Glenn Greenwald’s actions, he wouldn’t prosecute him. After stating that the Justice Department has not given up its efforts to repatriate Edward Snowden, Holder said that the department is not, however, planning to take action against Greenwald. He said: "Unless information that has not come to my attention is presented to me, what I have indicated in my testimony before Congress is that any journalist who’s engaged in true journalistic activities is not going to be prosecuted by this Justice Department. … I certainly don’t agree with what Greenwald has done. … In some ways, he blurs the line between advocate and journalist. But on the basis of what I know now, I’m not sure there is a basis for prosecution of Greenwald."

A Call For A Crowdsourced Worldwide Wave Of Action ~ #www

Let's pick a three-month span, perhaps throughout this coming spring, and unite our collective actions into an unprecedented Worldwide Wave that cannot be ignored by anyone. Let's crowdsource a relentless global wave of action that protests the corrupt, while also rallying around and celebrating effective alternatives and solutions to the vast problems we are confronted by. Imagine thousands of nonviolent guerrilla armies swarming corrupt targets and rallying for viable solutions for a sustained three-month cycle. If we begin preparing now, a massive spring offensive can lead to a summer of transformation. Staying true to the vital nature of the movement, you lead, in your own way. Pick whatever issues concern you most and run with them, knowing that likeminded people throughout the world will also be fighting in solidarity, in whatever way they can, at the same time you are. This time the police state will not be able to crush us. We will not have stationary targets. We will be everywhere, fluid and evasive. The movement will be an unstoppable crowdsourced, decentralized and autonomous revolutionary force. We will engage in a diversity of nonviolent tactics, from large-scale mobilizations to small daily acts. Most of you already know the actions and tactics that are needed. Our ability to take part in civil disobedience is multiplied by our ability to easily record the actions on video and spread them throughout the Internet. By flooding social media with these inspiring videos, we will create a positive feedback loop that translates into more action on the ground. Radical change is urgently needed, so let's make transforming the world the cool thing to do. Let's create a culture of transformation. Let's blaze a contagious nonviolent wave of action through mass consciousness, signaling the end of the old world, ushering in a new paradigm. Now is the time.

Popular Resistance Newsletter – We Need To Know The Truth

Knowledge is essential for popular power. In fact, it is access to knowledge and accurate information that will aid our liberation from this ruthless plutocracy. Even former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski agrees, although he does so as a warning to his fellow elites. In a recent speech, he described the “accelerating social change driven by ‘instant mass communications such as radio, television and the Internet.’” Brzezinski warns his fellow members of the power structure that there is a “rise in worldwide populist activism;” that this “persistent and highly motivated populist resistance . . . has proven to be increasingly difficult to suppress” and that as a result of this “universal awakening of mass political consciousness” they cannot exert “external control” over the masses.

Jeremy Hammond Sentenced To Maximum Sentence, 10 Years

Hammond at sentencing: "The acts of civil disobedience and direct action that I am being sentenced for today are in line with the principles of community and equality that have guided my life. I hacked into dozens of high profile corporations and government institutions, understanding very clearly that what I was doing was against the law, and that my actions could land me back in federal prison. But I felt that I had an obligation to use my skills to expose and confront injustice—and to bring the truth to light. Could I have achieved the same goals through legal means? I have tried everything from voting petitions to peaceful protest and have found that those in power do not want the truth to be exposed. When we speak truth to power we are ignored at best and brutally suppressed at worst. We are confronting a power structure that does not respect its own system of checks and balances, never mind the rights of it’s own citizens or the international community."

Free Jeremy Hammond! Come To His Sentencing Friday.

Twitter this: FREE #JeremyHammond! Pack the Courtroom on 11/15/13! Show Support for Jeremy at His Sentencing http://freejeremy.net/giant-banner/pack-the-courtroom-show-support-for-jeremy-at-his-sentencing/ As many of you know, Jeremy has pled guilty to one count of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for leaking documents from the private security firm StratFor. His sentencing will be held on Friday, November 15, at 10 AM. He faces up to ten years in prison for a politically-motivated act of civil disobedience from which he personally gained nothing, and which he only hoped would make the world a better place. Help fill the courtroom. He and the judge need to see as many supporters as possible. Sentencing is always an emotional event, and it is incredibly encouraging for him to see friendly faces in the gallery.

The Revolutionaries In Our Midst

On Friday the 28-year-old activist will appear for sentencing in the Southern District Court of New York in Manhattan. After having made a plea agreement, he faces the possibility of a 10-year sentence for hacking into the Texas-based private security firm Strategic Forecasting Inc., or Stratfor, which does work for the Homeland Security Department, the Marine Corps, the Defense Intelligence Agency and numerous corporations including Dow Chemical and Raytheon. Four others involved in the hacking have been convicted in Britain, and they were sentenced to less time combined—the longest sentence was 32 months—than the potential 120-month sentence that lies before Hammond. Hammond turned the pilfered information over to the website WikiLeaks and Rolling Stone and other publications. The 3 million email exchanges, once made public, exposed the private security firm’s infiltration, monitoring and surveillance of protesters and dissidents, especially in the Occupy movement, on behalf of corporations and the national security state. And, perhaps most important, the information provided chilling evidence that anti-terrorism laws are being routinely used by the federal government to criminalize nonviolent, democratic dissent and falsely link dissidents to international terrorist organizations. Hammond sought no financial gain.

Sarah Harrison In Germany Speaking Out For Snowden & Whisleblowers

WikiLeaks’ battles are many: we fight against unaccountable power and government secrecy, publishing analysis and documents for all affected and to forever provide the public with the history that is theirs. For this, we are fighting legal cases in many jurisdictions and face an unprecedented Grand Jury investigation in the United States. WikiLeaks continues to fight for the protection of sources. We have won the battle for Snowden’s immediate future, but the broader war continues. Already, in the few days I have spent in Germany, it is heartening to see the people joining together and calling for their government to do what must be done – to investigate NSA spying revelations, and to offer Edward Snowden asylum. The United States should no longer be able to continue spying on every person around the globe, or persecuting those that speak the truth.

Jeremy Hammond Defense Presents Letters Of Support Ahead Of Sentencing

Lawyers acting for Jeremy Hammond, the Chicago-based hacktivist facing up to 10 years in prison for releasing internal emails from the private intelligence agency Stratfor, have lodged 265 letters of support with the federal judge who will determine his sentence on 15 November. The letters call on judge Loretta Preska of the US district court for the southern district of New York to show leniency towards Hammond, a former member of the hacking network Anonymous who has become a cause célèbre for hacktivists, civil libertarians and those concerned about the rights of whistleblowers. They include 36 submissions from leading data experts and freedom of information campaigners.

More Snowden-Like NSA Whistleblowers Coming

In an interview with ABC News on Thursday, Raddack revealed that an influx of NSA whistleblowers, inspired by Snowden, are now knocking on the doors of her organization. According to Radack, several more whistleblowers have approached the Government Accountability Project (GAP)—the nation's leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization where she is the director of National Security and Human Rights—since Snowden's story broke earlier this year. “There definitely could be more revelations in addition to those that Snowden has revealed and that are continuing to come out,” she told ABC News. The Obama administration's "war on whistleblowers" is backfiring, said Radack.

Kafkaesque World Of Data Mining By The NSA, Search Engines And Social Media

"In the surreal world we live in, reality has become stranger than fiction. The information super highway could have produced a completely transparent world, yet the elusive corporate and governmental nexus of Big Brothers has surrounded itself with layers of opacity, secrecy and deception. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens are probed, exposed and have become open books to organizations such as the United States National Security Agency (NSA) and corporations that run search engines and social media. In one case, it is done in the name of security and prevention of terrorist attacks, in the other it is done in the name of commerce. Factual and fictional have become so blurred that many dreams have a more logical structure than current events. It is as if reality is trapped, like a fly in a spider web, in the matrix of a nightmarish and grotesque virtual construct. Perhaps the best way to understand this layered reality — both hyper-connected and paradoxically disconnected — is to look into fiction, especially the work of Franz Kafka."

Wall Street Whistleblower Awarded $14 Million

An undisclosed Wall Street whistleblower was just awarded $14 million for information that led to the recovery of millions of dollars in investor funds. Without the tip, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) might not have uncovered the Wall Street fraud. SEC whistlebower monetary awards were made possible by a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act that set up a fund to encourage individuals to step forward with information about financial crimes and regulatory violations. The law also requires that the SEC maintain the confidentiality of the whistleblower.

Journalist Group Criticizes Obama For Attacks On Journalists

It's hardly news that the Obama administration is intensely and, in many respects, unprecedentedly hostile toward the news-gathering process. Even the most Obama-friendly journals have warned of what they call "Obama's war on whistleblowers". James Goodale, the former general counsel of the New York Times during its epic fights with the Nixon administration, recently observed that "President Obama wants to criminalize the reporting of national security information" and added: "President Obama will surely pass President Richard Nixon as the worst president ever on issues of national security and press freedom." Still, a new report released today by the highly respected Committee to Protect Journalists - its first-ever on press freedoms in the US - powerfully underscores just how extreme is the threat to press freedom posed by this administration. Written by former Washington Post executive editor Leonard Downie, Jr.

US Whistleblowers: ‘US Unchained Itself From Constitution’

Edward Snowden’s revelations of NSA surveillance programs prove that the US has abandoned the rule of law, betraying its own constitution, whistleblower Thomas Andrews Drake, told RT. A group of US whistleblowers and activists has present Snowden with a Sam Adams Award for ‘Integrity in Intelligence’ in Moscow on Wednesday. “The irony is that the US has abandoned the rule of law,” Drake, who also revealed NSA secrets in the past, said of Snowden’s leaks. “They’ve unchained itself from their own constitution – the mechanism by which we govern ourselves. And when you ban the real law and use a secret law and secret interpretations of law, we’re in a whole new ball game. It’s a Pandora’s Box.” Snowden “had to escape the US to ensure any chance of freedom,” Drake said.

Campaign For Leniency For Hacktivist Jeremy Hammond

A letter campaign is underway to provide letters of support for Jeremy Hammond prior to his sentencing on November 15th. Hammond has accepted a plea deal with a statutory maximum of 10 years. In the course of the plea deal, Hammond was forced to admit his role in eight hacks beyond the one count of violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. These admissions will be used by the federal government to add points to his offense level and increase his sentence. Hammond explained his reasoning for the plea in a written statement. During the past 15 months I have been relatively quiet about the specifics of my case as I worked with my lawyers to review the discovery and figure out the best legal strategy. There were numerous problems with the government’s case, including the credibility of FBI informant Hector Monsegur. However, because prosecutors stacked the charges with inflated damages figures, I was looking at a sentencing guideline range of over 30 years if I lost at trial. I have wonderful lawyers and an amazing community of people on the outside who support me. None of that changes the fact that I was likely to lose at trial. But, even if I was found not guilty at trial, the government claimed that there were eight other outstanding indictments against me from jurisdictions scattered throughout the country.

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Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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