The critical importance of complete freedom of the press (in additional to free speech)

The Death and Life of American Journalism (2010), by Robert McChesney and John Nichols, is an extraordinary book detailing A) the historical and jurisprudential foundation for freedom of the press (specifically granted in the First Amendment, separate and distinct from free speech), and B) the need to declare journalism as…

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Lesson in peresistence

At the St. Louis Zoo yesterday, I watched this drama unfold. A bird landed in the prairie dog area and decided that it wanted the prairie dog to share its food. The prairie dog (and yet another prairie dog) remained stoic throughout this ordeal (this is a series of 13 photos), which begs for cartoon captions. IMG_3814 zoo orangutans harty prarie dog IMG_3817 zoo orangutans harty prarie dog IMG_3818 zoo orangutans harty prarie dog [More . . . ]

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Meaning of Pro Life

What does the phrase "pro life" actually mean? The following list from Addicting Information doesn't apply to everyone who calls himself or herself "pro life," but it's a useful list to consult when someone claims they are pro-life. They might mean one or more of the following, each of which is elaborated at Addicting Information: 1. Anti-Abortion: 2. Anti-Choice 2. Pro-Fetus 4. Pro-Birth 5. Pro-Controlling Women 6: Pro-Abuse 7. Anti-Sex 8. Pro-Religious Control 9. Misogynist

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Edward Snowden’s Insurance Policy

Glenn Greenwald reports on information Edward Snowden has held back so far:

The original La Nacion interview which Reuters claimed to summarize is now online; the rough English translation is here. Here's the context for my quote about what documents he possesses: "Q: Beyond the revelations about the spying system performance in general, what extra information has Snowden? "A: Snowden has enough information to cause more damage to the US government in a minute alone than anyone else has ever had in the history of the United States. But that's not his goal. [His] objective is to expose software that people around the world use without knowing what they are exposing themselves without consciously agreeing to surrender their rights to privacy. [He] has a huge number of documents that would be very harmful to the US government if they were made public."
Fascinating. Why should Snowden need such a policy? Would the U.S. really try to murder him? Greenwald responds:
[T]he notion that a government that has spent the last decade invading, bombing, torturing, rendering, kidnapping, imprisoning without charges, droning, partnering with the worst dictators and murderers, and targeting its own citizens for assassination would be above such conduct is charmingly quaint.
Though Greenwald doesn't mention the recent death of Michael Hastings, I am increasingly willing to add that suspicious death to the disreputable things the U.S. government has done over the past decade. The U.S. will stop at nothing, because they have little to fear from most members of the lapdog press, and because the citizens are so wrapped up in staying financially solvent, indulging in consumerism, and obsessing about movies, TV shows and sports that reality has become gauze-like and unmotivating.

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